FCC Taps Whitesell As Media Bureau Deputy Chief

Sarah Whitesell today was appointed as a deputy chief of the FCC’s Media Bureau. 

“Sarah has a tremendous reputation for her vast knowledge of communications and media issues — a reputation that is well-earned, as I know from having worked with her at the Justice Department in the late 1990s and the FCC more recently. I’m grateful she is returning to the Media Bureau,” said Chairman Ajit Pai. “She will play a key leadership role as the bureau modernizes our media rules for the digital age and addresses other commission priorities.”

Whitesell returns to the Media Bureau from the nonprofit sector where she headed the Legal Resource Center on Violence Against Women.

In addition to her prior role as Deputy Chief of the Media Bureau, Whitesell has served in many other capacities at the commission, including legal adviser to Acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn for media issues, acting legal adviser to Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein on media issues, legal adviser to Commissioner Gloria Tristani for common carrier issues, as well as management roles in the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis and the International Bureau.

Whitesell also served as a member of the Telecommunications Task Force for the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division and as an associate at the law firm that is now WilmerHale.

She taught telecommunications law as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center and legal writing as an adjunct professor at George Washington University Law School.

Whitesell also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Jane R. Roth, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

She received her law degree from Yale Law School and graduated from Davidson College in North Carolina.